MasterCard MasterPass

MasterCard Launches HCE Projects to Boost International Mobile Payments Programs

February 25, 2024         By: Michael Cheng

MasterCard has announced the coming of new pilot programs in a move to support Host Card Emulation (HCE). The projects are aimed to enhance the payments experience on Android devices.

Over 15 countries worldwide are expected to take part in the programs, including the following locations: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

MasterCard Cloud Based Payments streamlines the deployment of mobile transaction services for financial institutions and providers. The new offering veers away from secure element (SE)-based technology, and relies on cloud processing coupled with HCE architecture.

“In the digital payments industry, we are witnessing a convergence between mobile payments and eCommerce. In fact, UniCredit Group strongly believes that HCE truly represents one of the best available technologies to make the mobile payment experience even easier on a large scale,” highlighted Alberto Naef, Head of Global Marketing, Unicredit Group.

Numerous license holders are currently supporting the platform, and as a result, benefiting from the secure deployment of mobile payments.

To further facilitate the development of new applications, MasterCard released the Mobile Payment Software Development Kit (SDK) for developers and technicians. The software and applications found in the toolkit can help establishments comply with the latest MasterCard specifications and standards.

“Our vision for digital payments is to create great experiences for consumers across all channels and all devices, and HCE and cloud-based software provide another path forward for MasterCard and our partners to deliver on that vision. The approach will drive greatly expanded availability of mobile contactless and remote payments, through integration with MasterPass, our global digital platform,” said James Anderson, Group Head and Senior Vice President, Shared Platform Services at MasterCard.

HCE technology is available on Android devices running KitKat 4.4 or higher.